Utilizing my experience in both research and development, I want to create new products with my own hands.
Product Development
Shunsuke Aizawa
Responsible for new cigarette product development and maintenance of existing products
A true feeling of potential and motivation in development which requires the best blends of heated tobacco products.
I entered this company in 2015 and was assigned to the Research Laboratory responsible for science research, where I carried out analysis and other procedures on component contents of leaf tobacco and main-stream smoke. I was also responsible for research connected to the development of cigarettes and RRP*.
In my research on cigarettes, I actually cultivated leaf tobacco at agricultural fields while performing research to clarify the behavior of components related with tastes and flavors of tobacco.
In 2017, I was transferred to a team working on leaf tobacco blends, where I was responsible for developing leaf tobacco to be used in RRP*. In heated tobacco products (hereafter HTP), which is one type of RRP*, materials in sheet configuration formed from processed tobacco leaves are heated to release tastes and flavors. I was in charge of developing the best blends to be used as their sources. I felt the potential of HTP as well as great motivation for this work.
Since being transferred again in 2020, I have been involved in the coordination of new cigarette product development and the maintenance of existing products.
*Reduced-Risk Products: Products with the potential to reduce the health risks associated with smoking
Since I have experience in both research and development, I was able to utilize my research expertise toward development work.
I was previously positioned in both a Research Laboratory responsible for science research and a department responsible for development, so I was involved in both of those areas and could understood the connections between them as well as their functions, which I can apply to my current work. I felt this even more when I was transferred to a team involved in blending tobacco leaves.
Those were the early days of RRP* so development periods were short and high speed was required to execute measures. If an unexpected event whose cause was unknown happened in development under those conditions, the time we had to investigate it in was very limited, so we coordinated with the Research Laboratory responsible for science research to examine it. From those research results, we were able to discover the best conditions for product development and could build up new knowledge.
As an example, HTP has a distinct smell which is different from cigarettes. Since we did not know what components were the cause of this smell, we made a request to the Research Laboratory and they quickly isolated the components that were its source. I believe that such smooth communication was also possible due to my involvement in work for both research and development.
*Reduced-Risk Products: Products with the potential to reduce the health risks associated with smoking
The importance of looking over the entire value chain when creating our products.
During my six years after entering this company, I had experiences in gaining an understanding of the overall flow of cigarette and RRP* development in my work. If I look back now I realize that while I was in the team working on leaf tobacco blends I was only thinking about blends and nothing else, and just continued producing the things that were requested of me. However, now that I have gained an understanding of general procedures, rather than only looking at certain parts of new product development I have become able to think about matters in a broad sense, such as what kinds of issues may arise at manufacturing plants if certain materials are blended in certain ways, or what kinds of special measures should be taken to minimize material losses.
Products cannot be delivered to consumers just by the research and development activities of the R&D Group alone. I believe I have become able to look out broadly over what is known as the value chain instead of just focusing on research and development, and to think about the best solutions which have overall value.
I enjoy the feeling of making something through my own efforts. Through repeated trial and error, I will work with my own hands to create things that will bring satisfaction to consumers. That is what I consider to be the ultimate motivation for my work.
*Reduced-Risk Products: Products with the potential to reduce the health risks associated with smoking